


Recovery

by ImpishTubist



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Fluff, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 22:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1795657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpishTubist/pseuds/ImpishTubist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom slowly heals after an away mission goes wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notluvulongtime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notluvulongtime/gifts).



> Written for Kim, who enjoys flailing over these two boys with me.

It was an understatement to say that he was sore. 

Every muscle in Tom’s body felt as though it had been set on fire, something that he had mercifully been oblivious of for about four hours, as the Doctor’s strong painkillers had sent him into a dreamless and deep sleep. He was wrenched from his oblivion at 0600 by the chime of the comm system, and the pain slammed into him at once, knocking the breath from his lungs and making the world spin around him. 

“Mr. Paris?”

“Here, Captain,” he managed to croak. “Sorry, what was that?”

“You sound like hell, Lieutenant,” Janeway said bluntly. “Are you alright? The Doctor told me he released you last night.”

There was a soft snort next to Tom’s ear, a huff of breath that ruffled his short hair, and he half-heartedly elbowed the man wrapped around him. Chakotay responded by tightening the arm he had around Tom’s waist and drawing him closer, but that aggravated Tom’s healing ribs and he gave a hiss of pain.

“Tom?”

“I’m fine,” he gasped out. He drew a couple of breaths and, when the pain subsided slightly, added, “I’m fine, really. It’s just the painkillers the Doc gave me. They’re disorienting. What did you need, Captain?”

“We’re having some difficulty up here with the guidance system. I know you’re off duty at the moment, but I was wondering if you’d feel up to a quick trip up to the bridge to take a look at it for us. I wouldn’t ask, but since you’d been released, I assumed the Doctor had given you a clean bill of health.”

“He has,” Tom said quickly, as though afraid Chakotay would jump in and correct him. Chakotay wouldn’t, though. Their relationship wasn’t known to the rest of the crew and it was best that it stayed that way. It would jeopardize both their careers if it got out that Tom had been fraternizing with his superior - or, in Chakotay’s case, that he had been sleeping with a subordinate. “But I’m still trying to regain my bearings. Can you give me an hour?”

“Of course, Lieutenant. Thank you. I’ll check back in at 0700.”

“Sorry,” Chakotay said as soon as Janeway signed off. “I didn’t think you would still be in so much pain. You might want to go back -”

“No,” Tom said firmly, cutting him off. “I’m not going back to Sickbay.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been so insistent on him letting you go you wouldn’t still be in pain,” Chakotay reprimanded lightly.

“There was no way I was spending another night in Sickbay,” Tom said. He suppressed a shudder. “It’s too quiet, and there’s nothing to do but lie there and count the ceiling tiles and hope that boredom can actually kill so you would be put out of your misery.”

Chakotay was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “Right, no more painkillers for you.”

Tom gave a soft huff of laughter - which mercifully didn’t hurt - and closed his eyes, sinking back into Chakotay’s arms. The heat from the other man’s body soothed his aching and bruised back. He had been a variety of interesting colors last night, mostly purples and blues, and bruised from his brow to his thighs. He could only imagine what the bruises looked like now. They were probably turning a sickening yellow, which would go along well with the angry red welts on his back and the healing gashes on his torso. 

“Go back to sleep,” Chakotay said gently. “I’ll be here.”

Tom wondered if Chakotay had sensed how apprehensive he was about returning to sleep, for the words relaxed him more than he cared to admit. He had been held captive for four days before the crew had found him, believed to be an insurgent in the war he had accidentally stumbled across on an away mission. He hadn’t yet experienced nightmares as a result of his ordeal, but that was because all of his sleep up until now had been drug-induced and dreamless. 

But Chakotay was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere. Maybe that would be enough to keep the inevitable nightmares at bay. Tom laced their fingers together, groaning as he did so - even his hands were scraped and bruised - and drifted off. 

Chakotay woke him with a kiss later on, which under normal circumstances would have led to a passionate morning in bed. Instead, Tom was only aware of the soft lips for a brief moment before the pain in the rest of his body invaded his thoughts and he groaned. Chakotay pulled back, kissed his brow, and said, “I brought you something.”

“Mm?” Tom felt the beginnings of nausea lap at his insides, and he swallowed hard. “What?”

Chakotay held up a hypospray. “I borrowed this from Sickbay.”

Tom stared at him, and then he laughed despite the fact that it hurt his ribs. “Did you seriously go down there and steal medicine from the Doctor?”

“No. I _borrowed_ medicine from the Doctor.” Chakotay pressed the hypospray against the side of Tom’s neck and administered the medication. “Not that I intend to give it back.”

“That _would_ be difficult,” Tom said dryly. He sighed as a cool, numbing sensation spread through his limbs. “What time is it?”

“0650. Can you manage a shower?”

“In a minute,” Tom said, though in truth he could have laid there all day. He closed his eyes as Chakotay carded thick fingers through his hair. As the numbing agent settled into his muscles, he became aware of aches in places that he hadn’t fully registered until now, overshadowed as they had been by the more prominent pain in his head and ribs. “Didn’t think it was possible to be hurt in this many places at once.”

“You’ve got bruises in places I didn’t even know were possible,” Chakotay said sympathetically. 

“Yeah? How would you know?” Tom asked, amused. “Been taking advantage of me while I was asleep?”

Chakotay rolled his eyes. “I was the one who found you, Flyboy. We couldn’t wait to render aid until we got back to _Voyager_ , so I had to do what I could for you while Harry was piloting us out of there. You’ve got a particularly interesting bruise right under here…”

Tom yelped as one of Chakotay’s hands slipped beneath the covers and light fingertips slid over his ass. He laughed, which was a mistake and immediately caused him to curl in on himself. 

“Don’t me laugh,” he wheezed as his chest burned. “I hate you.”

Chakotay set the hypospray aside and climbed back into bed next to Tom, curling around him from behind in their usual sleeping position. Tom could feel sleep pulling at him again, and he wondered idly what it was like to feel well-rested. He couldn’t remember. And he certainly couldn’t imagine ever wanting to get out of bed again.

“When’s your shift?” he murmured. 

“1600. I’ll leave an hour before to change in my quarters. My break will be around 2030. I’ll be back to check on you then.”

Normally, Tom would have protested what he saw as coddling, but he could barely manage to stand on his own. He would need Chakotay to stop in and see to him, unpleasant as that was to admit to himself.

“I’m never volunteering for an away mission again,” he groaned. 

“No argument here,” Chakotay said, though they both knew that within a week Tom would be back on the Delta Flyer, and the next time they had an away mission, he’d be the first to volunteer as pilot. “Though maybe the fact that you got captured had more to do with the fact that you flew a shuttle right into the middle of a warzone.”

“Well, they should have labeled it more clearly!”

“I don’t think you label warzones.”

“They should start, then.”

Chakotay chuckled. “I take it back. You’re more entertaining on painkillers. You should take them more often.”

“Ha. Not if I’m required to feel like this all the time.” Tom shifted and winced. He wanted to roll over to his other side, but the thought of moving even that much made him light-headed. He would have to attempt to stand in a few minutes, and the thought of that made him wish that he had heeded the Doctor’s wishes and stayed in Sickbay for two more days. 

“Janeway to Paris. How are you feeling, Lieutenant?”

Tom tried to come up with an honest answer that wasn’t a scream, and all he could manage was, “The same, captain.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Paris. Do you think you can manage to come to the bridge for a while?”

“Yeah,” Tom answered, because what else was he going to say to that? He pushed back the covers and said, “I’ll be up there at 0730.”

He pushed himself into a sitting position, biting down hard on his lower lip to keep from crying out. The room tilted around him, and he could feel the blood rush from his face. He met Chakotay’s worried gaze and shook his head. He was fine. He could manage this. 

“No way, Flyboy,” Chakotay said under his breath, and Tom shot him a questioning glance. Chakotay raised his voice and said, “Captain, I’m sorry to disappoint, but Mr. Paris is in no condition to come up to the bridge right now. As of this moment, he’s off-duty for the next seventy-two hours, and I’m ordering him confined to his quarters for the duration of that period so he can heal properly.”

“Chakotay?” Janeway sounded perplexed. “What are you -”

She cut herself off abruptly, as though realizing that perhaps she didn’t want to know the answer to that question.

“I’ll sign the order during my shift this afternoon and put it in Mr. Paris’ file,” Chakotay went on. “In the meantime, he’s going back to bed.”

“Understood, Commander,” Janeway said smoothly, all curiosity gone from her voice. “Bridge out.”

Tom let out a slow breath. Chakotay lifted up the blankets and Tom slid back under them, settling down with his head on Chakotay’s chest this time. 

“She’s going to wonder what you were doing here.” 

Chakotay shrugged. “I stopped by to check on you. I brought you coffee because you were craving some. The Doctor wanted me to bring you some more medication because he was busy in Sickbay. I had a report I needed you to sign. Any and all of the above. It’s really not all that suspicious, Tom.”

“And if she figures out the real reason?”

Chakotay was quiet for a moment, and then he shrugged again. 

“Then she finds out,” he said softly. 

“You don’t care if she does?”

“I care,” Chakotay said. “But there are certain things that matter more to me. Now go to sleep before I have to knock you out.”

“Real charmer, you are. I can see why you were so popular with the ladies.”

“Shut up, Flyboy.”

“Make me, Big Man.”

And Chakotay silenced him with a kiss.


End file.
